quilts for ashley & rhett

so i have been SO excited and longing to write this post- its been in the works since june!!!!!

ever since i found out that ash was expecting sweet little rhett, i had decided that i wanted to make her a quilt for her. now i should say, i had only attempted one quilt before and lets just say its neatly folded, half done, in the top of my closet. but i wanted to do something super special, and i couldnt think of anything much better than a homemade quilt- something that says cozy, time, friendship, thought, planning, effort, excitement, and home. i decided that i couldn't wait until she found out the gender, so i found some beautiful grey fabrics. i love them- and with a cute pattern i found, i laid out a perfect quilt. my friend jamie (who is thebomb.com by the way, the most patient and helpful teacher there ever could be), spent hours with me, teaching me techinques, picking out the right type of fabrics, helping me plan and cut and order batting. we went with a super thick batting and a minky fabric backing, making this the perfect quilt to lay out on ashley's hardwood floors for rhett to play on, or take on the road for a picnic, or throw in the bag to go to a friend's house- whatever, but perfectly suited to serve as a play mat. it turned out fantastic, soft, thick, and simple. i loved it.

i was thrilled by how it was all coming together. then, we found out she was going to have a boy! and that day i decided that little rhett needed not only a grey quilt, but something to match his room. so i went to shops looking for navys and whites and little bursts of lime green. i picked out another pattern and was excited to learn even more technique from jamie.

let me just say, to all you fearful readers out there thinking "a quilt?! i could never do that!" you could. easy peasy. with some time (ok a lot of time) and some willingness to learn and mess up and try again, you could do this. especially with the aid of an awesome friend like jamie. quilting is competely within the reach of anyone who wants to try. in fact, i liked quilting so much, i ended up making both mine and nathan's moms quilts for christmas! (more on that later!!). so, reader, check out my favorite quilting blog, www.modabakeshop.com, pick out a pattern, and get to work. i'd love to see what you make!!!

lifegroup

we are a part of an incredible lifegroup. i mean really, these folks are incredible. let me begin by clarifying- "lifegroup" is what our church calls a sunday school class. well, its a little more. the idea is that lifegroups are small groups of people in the same season of life that are committed to grow, love, encourage, and journey together. i love it. we have been a part of a "newlywed" group for about 2 years now (we started a few months after we got married) and have enjoyed watching our little group go from newlyweds to newparents. in fact, we are in the minority of those not pregnant or with kids!

with our group, we have sent two couple to other cities, are sending one to another continent, have already welcome two little boy have two more babies on the way. we have celebrated new homes, new marriages, and new jobs. we have loved, lifted up, and laughed a ton. we love this group!

last night, we had the pleasure of sending off a couple to sweden in style- with a dessert prayer night. it was great, and we are so excited for adam & stacey & their daughter elizabeth as they head to proclaim the love of God to the people of sweden.

this past weekend, we traveled out to stone mountain to spend the saturday outside with some from the group. we had heard there was a new lasershow, and nathan and i are always excited to go back to the place that we were wed (and it happened to be our 2 year 2 month anniversary). i love that we can just grab sandwiches and blankets and meet up with these awesome folks, and spend hours sitting on a lawn just chatting.  and thats just what we did. nathan played some soccer with the guys, i chatted with the ladies, and we played with everyone else's kids :) it was great- and it reminded me of just how much i love these people

in front of the big rock

jamie and teague- what a cuties he is and i just love her!

teague loved playing in the grass and showing off his skills of pulling up :)

and i love my awesome husband!

and of course, be sure to check out the gratitude blog!

my new baby!

ok, well, not quite a BABY. but, my new pride and joy :)

this weekend, my awesome mom treated me to a little bit early birthday present...a sewing machine! 

i have enjoyed sewing even since i was a little girl, and while in college, a few friends and i joined the local quilting guild and would spend our evenings sewing (by hand) quilts and odds and ends (side note- i never finished anything). 

since looking around on pinterest (and getting a late but INCREDIBLE wedding gift), i got inspired a few months ago and decided that i wanted to take up sewing again. so, what a perfect time to get a sewing machine!

mom, jamie, teague, and i packed up saturday morning and headed to the quaint local sewing shop, The Scarlet Thread (i highly recommend it if you are looking for a sewing store in mcdonough). after looking around for quite some time, i settled on some fabric for my first project (jamie had already helped gather the machine and things i would need- shes the best!).

for a machine, a baby lock came highly recommended. its funny, normally i'm a big researcher and i try to know everything i can about something, but this time, i just trusted jamie (so that was a pretty big deal for me!). i haven't used it yet, but just getting it out of the box was so exciting!

so here's to a source of infinite blog posts! i'll keep you posted once i get all the tape off and sew something :)